Andrea Occhipinti (1957) is the CEO of Lucky Red, an independent distribution company with a strong identity based on auteur cinema, founded in 1987.
After debuting with Let’s get lost, Bruce Weber's wonderful documentary on Chet Baker, the company has distributed and produced the best of independent cinema, successfully introducing Italian audiences to great directors from all over the world such as Alejandro Amenabar, Lars Von Trier, Nanni Moretti, Wong Kar Way, Ang Lee, Park Chan Wook, Michael Haneke, Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Aki Kaurismaki, Mario Martone, Robert Altman, Frank Oz, Hayao Miyazaki, Barry Jenkins, Celine Song.
Lucky Red’s movies have been often awarded in the major International Film Festival: 6 Golden Lions in Venice (Vive L’Amour, Magdalene Sisters, The Return, Still Life, The Wrestler, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence), 3 Golden Bears in Berlin (The Wedding Banquet, Tuya’s Marriage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn); 4 Golden Palms in Cannes (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, The white ribbon, Blue is the warmest colour, Parasite).
Among the titles awarded at the Academy Award in the main categories Usual suspects, Shine, The March of the penguins, Slumdog Millionaire, Moonlight, Parasite, The Boy and the Heron.
Throughout Lucky Red’s distribution history 6 films won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film: Belle époque, The sea inside (coproduction), The secret of her eyes, Ida, A fantastic woman, The salesman (coproduction).
Over the years, Lucky Red shifted from a distributor of art-house films to a major player of the cinema industry through a remarkable diversification of the business lines in a constantly evolving process. Andrea Occhipinti’s commitment as an entrepreneur covers today the whole chain of the Italian cinema sector.
- Distribution: Between 2013 and 2019 Lucky Red was the 1st independent Italian distribution company. In 2022 Lucky Red distributed Ennio by the Academy Award winner Giuseppe Tornatore, to date the best performance at the Italian box office for a documentary. The first two months of 2024, due to the latest successful releases (The Boy And The Heron, Perfect Days, Past Lives, The Teachers’ Lounge) Lucky Red was the leading Italian film distributor with a market share of 17% and box office takings of almost €16m. In September 2024 Lucky Red distributed Vermiglio by Maura Delpero, which is the Italian choice for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film.
- Production: In 2016 Lucky Red has opened a new division dedicated to production. With the experience and the reputation acquired, Andrea Occhipinti is today considered a leader among independent Italian producers and Lucky Red one of the main suppliers of content for international platforms (Netflix, Amazon, etc.)
- Exhibition: Lucky Red is the relative majority shareholder of Circuito Cinema, the largest cinema chain with 40 cinemas and 126 screens in Italy, which Andrea Occhipinti run from 2015 to 2023.
- International Sales: In 2015, in partnership up with Indigo Film, Lucky Red founded True Colours, that quickly became one of the leading international movie Sales companies for Italian cinema.
Highlights
- From 2013 to 2018 Andrea Occhipinti was President of the domestic distributor division of Anica. He was also the initiator of the recent summer theatrical programming development.
- In 2014, he received a "David di Donatello" Special Award for his commitment in theatrical distribution.
- In 2015 he was awarded with the European Film Award for Best European Co-Producer.
- In 2024 Lucky Red was honoured with the Best International Innovation Distribution Award (formerly received by the US distributor Neon in 2022 and the Spain’s Company Elastica Films in 2023) at the International Film Distribution Summit.
To date Lucky Red has more than 600 films in its catalog, including titles from the most acclaimed directors such as Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne, Abbas Kiarostami, Coen’s brothers, Tim Burton, Xavier Dolan, Stephen Frears, Asghar Farhadi, Paolo Sorrentino, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders, Luca Guadagnino, Giuseppe Tornatore, Hayao Miyazaki and the whole Studio Ghibli library.